The show, based on a trilogy of novels by the two men, is about a workaholic investigator for
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named Ephraim Goodweather, played with earnestness
by Corey Stoll (House of Cards).

Eph, as his friends call him, and colleague Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) are called in when an
airliner lands in New York and no one gets off.

Inside, Eph and Nora find that, except for four people, everyone is dead.

The only suggestion of a cause is some icky stuff that shows up under black light.

At this point, Hogan (author of the novel
The Town) and show runner Carlton Cuse (Bates Motel), the designated writers of the series, start overstuffing the script.

First, we learn how difficult life has been for Eph. Among other things, he is battling ex-wife
Kelly (Natalie Brown) for shared custody of their son, Zack (Ben Hyland).

Eph loves his son and still loves his ex-wife, an affair with Nora notwithstanding, but his job
is demanding, and he gives in to those demands because if he doesn’t get to the bottom of these
mysterious cases, who will?

Meanwhile, there’s a strange old man named Abraham Sethrakian (David Bradley) who runs a curio
shop, keeps a human heart in a glorified pickle jar in his backroom and wields an ornate walking
stick that serves as a scabbard for a sword.

Sethrakian knows what killed the people on the plane, and it’s connected to a huge box of dirt
in the cargo hold.

He warns Eph and the authorities — in vain — not to let the box be transported across the river
and into New York and insists that the only way to stop whatever killed the people on the plane is
to burn the bodies.

But that’s not all.

There are also World War II Nazis who don’t seem to age, Washington bureaucrats who predictably
reject the suggestion that the entire port of New York needs to be shut down to contain the strain
and a wealthy old coot on the point of death who is willing to make a Faustian bargain to stay
alive.

Although the plot population explosion might work in the novel, it doesn’t transfer well to the
series.

The Strain is watchable, but it is lacking in precision, quality of writing and
performances — and, most notably, inspired directorial vision.